Heart of Steel
by Chefu
Summary: After many years of pain and loathing, Naruto leaves the village together with his nearly extinct bloodline Satetsu and he takes a road of revenge against those who wronged him.
1. Prologue

I do not own Naruto- Kishimito does and he pretty much fcked it up, but this is my first fanfiction so I may not be too much better so please be patient with me. Please review and no flames.

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Heart of Steel  
Chapter 1  
- Prolog –  
by Chefu and JCDx

The day was horrible when Kyuubi no Yoko attacked the Village hidden in the leaf. The fight against the Lord of all demons lasted for hours and no jutsus were able to affect the almighty kitsune. Kyuubi was using its tails to crush attacking ninjas and demolize all building around. People were starting to get desperate when they thought about their unavoidable death. All of this was banished when someone shouted:

"Yondaime-sama is coming!"

Before he was crushed by one of kyuubi´s tails. And it was true. On the other side of battlefield he was standing on head of toad boss Gamabunta. In his arms was resting his newborn son Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto. Fourth stood proudly and calmly, but insde he was wreck. His wife has died after the labor and he was now going to battle where he is going to sell his soul to the Death God, trading it for sealing the Kyuubi into navel of his own son. What he saw caused him to go into deeper depression. Where yesterday stood proud new buildings, there he could now see only debris, blood and dead bodies or their limbs. All in all he could say that Kyuubi stood to its legend as a natural disaster. With a simple command Bunta jumped and engaged Kyuubi in combat. With demons attention on the frog boss, attacks from ninjas around started again. Nara´s were trying to bind Kyuubi with their Kage mane no jutsu, Aburame´s were using their Kikai bugs to bleed some chakra from Kyuubi, and some still living Akamichis were using their expansion bloodline to suffocate their target. Hyuuga´s Jyuuken was used in combat too. All clan´s were fighting for their home. But all attacks looked weak to the great assault of Yondaime and his summon. He was constantly attacking with all he could. All in all no attack was strong enough to even scratch Kyuubi who was laughing at them. After a while it stopped its laugh and said in demonic voice:

"**YOU CAN'T DEFEAT ME YOU PESTY MONKEYS. I AM THE KYUUBI NO KITSUNE, RULLER OF HELL. EVEN GODS ARE TREMBLING BEFORE ME!** "

Yondaime knew that he stood no chance against monster so he used his last resort, his last work, the Skihi fuuin. With broken heart he started seals for summoning of the Shinigami. After few minutes , which were like eternity to him, he knew that jutsu was ready to use. But Shinigami didn't go unnoticed to Kyuubi who went after fourth for a kill.

"Gamabunta, please hold Kyuubi as long as you can, I will end this."

Said Yondaime to Gamabunta, who after hearing this jumped to the attacker and tried to hold it as long as he could. Kyuubi who could not have it tried to kill the frog boss , but only made a scar on Bunta's eye. Meanwhile hand of Shinigami took hold of demon's soul and started to redirect it to seal which was drawn on body of small Naruto. Kyuubi was trying to fight it off of course but had small success. Even it's tails were of no use and it´s no small feat, because with a single swing with them tsunami would rise or earthquake was caused. With all of Kyuubi's soul in seal, Minato said a single word, which will eventually change the entire world.

"Fuuin!"

After the battle a lot of people were searching for their beloved leader. When they found him they could not believe what they saw. Yondaime, champion of Konoha was dying. But before he died, he managed to say his last words.

"Please… cough … view him as a … cough… hero he is, … cough… because he prevented Kyuubi … cough… from escaping….''.

And with that said the most powerful ninja of elemenal countries died.

* * *

1 Week after attack

Sarutobi, person by many called "Proffesor," was not having a good day. Screw it, he was not having a good week. First he was reinstated as a Hokage so he had to fight his long forgotten enemy - paperwork - again. Second, Yondaime took his secrets for finishing paperwork in record time to grave. Third - after announcment about Naruto and Kyuubi, he was disappointed in civilians, because they thought about Naruto as Kyuubi and started to call for his death. And his fourth problem was council. These fools were trying to execute Naruto or make him into living weapon. He could have no of this.

_Flashback_

Council was in chaos.

"We should kill 'it' while it´s weak,"

Was heard together with shouts of approval from others.

"NO, we should make it into village weapon, and I am willing to train it,"

was heard from old war hawk Danzo. This was met with approval from some clan heads and Sandaime's old teammates. "Quiet," said Sandaime.

"Naruto will not be turned into weapon Danzou."

He then turned to look at the councilmen who were calling after Naruto´s death "And HE certainly will not be killed. " This was met with displeasure and scowling from all present. After he spent some time thinking about Naruto's future in this hateful environment, Sarutobi stood up and cleared his throat.

"As of today, I, Sandaime Hokage pass the law that no one from the poorest to richest can talk about Kyuubi being sealed inside of Naruto, under the penalty of death. This of course applies to all of you too!" "WHAT! You can't be serious. You would let someone from council be executed because of demon?? This is outrageous! " Horuma, Sandaime's old teammate yelled.

"Hai, this law will apply to you too," Sarutobi responded. "With this said the meeting is adjourned." With that he went away.

_Flashback end_

Now all he had to think about was where Naruto should live. 'No one will take him as their own child so adoption is out of question. I can't take him because of my job. Jiraiya doesn´t live in Konoha anymore. So the last thing, I can think of is orphanage.' He knew that this decision is going to bite him in the ass later, but he has no other choice in the matter. He silently prayed that people in orphanage are intelligent enough to understand that Naruto is not Kyuubi, but merely its container. As he glanced at small Naruto in his crib, he knew that he can expect big things from him. With that his break ended and he went back to his work with occasional curse to Minato for his death.

* * *

5 years later

In five years of Naruto´s life, he has survived horrible things. People were trying to kill him by many different ways on daily basis. Strangling, stabbing or poisoning together with his daily beating was taking its tool on him. But today was far more horrible. First it was 10th October and he knew that on his birthdays, people were more bloodthirsty, deadly and more malicious to him. They wanted blood. HIS blood. Today he was also kicked out of orphanage with words:

"You have some balls to try to steal from us after what you did five years ago, demon. Get lost and and never show your face here again!" Naturally this was a lie as for some unknown reason everything made of metal seemed to stick to him which was really bothersome. Of course he didn't know that this simple event will change his future forever.

He knew that in orphanage people were mean to him but it was only place he knew he could live. He had one small room which was in the worst condition of all the other rooms. It had one small window. Of course the window was broken so he was very cold on winters. He slept on the ragged mattress and all he had in possession were his old clothes, which were one black sleeveless shirt, orange pants and one pair of shoes. His clothes were washed only once a month. He received new clothes only once a year. He had no toys and never received any. He tried many times to ask and borrow some from other children but workers would always stop him and would beat him to unconsciousness. But right now his living arrangements were his smallest problem, because he was being hunted. This was his fifth hunt today and he was not very happy about it, not happy at all. 'Why! Why are they trying to hurt me? To kill me? I haven't done anything. It's not logical at all! 'Over the prior 5 years, young Naruto learned to strictly hide his logic. Thing, which saved him more then enough times and you can say he became cold. Who wouldn't in his situation? So right now he tried to find logic in his pursuers' actions. TRIED is a key word, because no matte how many times, he couldn't find any. As he was thinking he was not paying enough attention to where he was running and he took turn in the dark alley. What he discovered caused his fear to rise. He was in dead end. A fact which ruined his escape. As he turned around to try solve this problem, he found the entrance to the alley was blocked by enraged mob of villagers. They were armed with variations of all pointy and very deadly weapons he knew and that were already used on him in history. They had some sticks, pitchforks, broken bottles and other things. Between villagers he saw even some ninjas, and by their vest he knew that they were at least chuunins, but they could as well be jounins. As he surveyed the crowd, by his calculating eyes, he felt a shiver run down his spine. He knew that this beating will be harsh and he will be lucky if he is still alive after today, he ran out of all his tricks after all. With a hateful roar the mob surrounded him and started their 'righteous and justified' beating. With a quick punch to Naruto's gut, he collapsed to the ground and cuddled into the fetal position to reduce damage done to him.

* * *

Meanwhile while Naruto was being beaten, Kyuubi no Kitsune was starting to wake up inside his mind from her five years long slumber in the seal designed by the Yondaime Hokage.

"**Where am I****? ****" **

Said the queen of all demons. She looked on the surroundings and before her she saw a gate made of bars. All walls around her were painted by some kanji from which she deduced that they were some sort of seals. On the ground she could see small level of water. On the more distant walls she saw more seals and on the roof she could see tens maybe hundreds of pipes. Some were red and some were blue. She deduced that red pipes symbolized her yoki and were human chakra. As she took her surroundings into her mind, she started to think how the hell did she get there.

" **Hmm… the last memory I have is the fight with the yellow haired man-Yondaime and him summoning the Shinigami to seal me into some infant. So this must be certainly his mindscape. Let's see if I can survey his memory, maybe I can learn something about the seal."**

As Kyuubi watchedhow life of Naruto went she grew disgusted with humans even more. From how they acted to one of their kind, they were even more foolish then she remembered. And they called her race demons. When she finished with Naruto's memories,thoughts about seal completely forgotten, she noticed that some of the blue pipes were slowly changing a color. They were changing from blue to metallic silver. As she was curios she sent burst of her chakra to investigate the pipes. What she found made her smile.

"**Bloodline ... Interesting…."**

* * *

As Kyuubi was exploring her new domain Naruto was still under attack. With bloodlust which his attackers radiated today he knew that they wanted him dead. Not almost dead like always, but really dead and he can do nothing about it. The pain was so unbearable and distracting for him that he almost didn't saw the red yoki that surrounded him and began to push itself into the ground. The yoki shot from the earth with something that resembled sand. Only difference was that this substance was darker than sand. Almost metallic. As the yoki vanished the unknown substance remained on the earth. While this was happening villagers and shinobi felt something that they didn't felt for five years. Fear. Absolute fear which can be felt only from Kyuubi. Now they knew that it was breaking from the seal so they had to kill container. One foolish shinobi raised his kunai and tried to ram it directly into Naruto's heart, but he was unexpectedly stopped. His weapon was blocked by the said unknown substance. Surprised he tried to attack again but substance would always stop him by forming a kind of dark wall. Other people tried to attack too. They were stopped like their comrade in crime. At this moment Sandaime and two squads of Black Ops ANBU has appeared around Naruto. As he saw the substance he paled and said only one word:

"…Satetsu…"

Eyes of those, who knew about Sandaime Kazekage and his bloodline, widened. Others that didn't know were confused, but this now didn't matter. The silence was short lived as Sarutobi snapped from his thoughts and started to give orders.

"ANBU execute all the people who violated my law and I will take Naruto to hospital for help."

Cries of horror and pleading could be heard but Sarutobi ignored them all.He thought about Naruto's Kekkai Genkai and his parents 'Minato, Kushina you would be so proud of Naruto. This young and he already awakened his bloodline.'


	2. Revelations

I have wanted to thank you for all reviews and your positive responses to this story. It is good to know that somebody likes what you write. I really want to thank my friend JCDx. He helps me with writing this story very much and I really appreciate it. For your information I usually write the first half while he writes the second. I will not update very often, because I have to study. So you souldn't expect an update sooner than every 3-4 weeks or so.

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Heart of Steel  
Chapter 2  
- Revelations –  
by Chefu and JCDx

2 years later

It was exactly 7 am when Naruto woke up. Being immediately awake, he surveyed the area around himself for danger. You can say that habits die hard in his case. Not that he wants them to die, because they saved him on more then one occasion. Plus as a container of Kyuubi he doesn't need more than 4 hours of proper sleep, the rest was to gather enough energy for today's training. So why bother to change them? He quietly jumped from his bed and shivered when he touched the cold floor. He immediately picked 3 kunai from his nightstand and threw them with one hand at the same time on 3 separate targets on wall of his room. It was practice which he was hoping would enhance his accuracy and ability with throwing weapons. He took a quick shower and dressed in his shinobi attire – gift from old man in the tower. Then he went to kitchen. He now wore black shirt with orange swirl pattern on his back. For pants he chose dark blue ones. For breakfast he took some instant ramen and water for a drink. After finishing he cleaned the dishes and went to his room to pick up his weapons. On his way through the room he looked at a small bin with his iron sand. The sand flew to the wall and brought him back the three kunai he practiced with earlier. Now with everything done he took his way to the door. As he willed the sand to take a shape of coat around his body, he remembered the conversation he had with the aging Hokage.

* * *

Flashback three days after gaining his family trait

_Sarutobi was worried. It has been three whole days since he took Naruto to the hospital and he was still unconscious. All people who took part in his attempted assassination were executed for violating Hokage's law. He could not have this foolishness continue. How could they think that he was the demon fox, that almost destroyed them five years ago? He should be hailed as the hero he is. Not be hunted and hated like some trash and reincarnation of the monster. They were really foolish to try and abuse innocent child, a child of two great ninjas, maybe it is time for Naruto to know part of the story. He had to do something to help Naruto stay unharmed. And now that Naruto unlocked his family trait, he knew that once he will awaken, he will want answers to his questions and answers he shall give him. He could almost hear it. His next problem was a council. When they heard about the attack and manifestation of Satetsu they immediately called the council meeting. These old farts had some courage to try and force him to let Naruto be used as a breeding stock for his bloodline. Some of Clan heads demanded to let them adopt Naruto to their clan. Especially persistent was Hyuuga Hiashi. Oh god how he hated this power hungry idiot. He always wanted his clan to be the most powerful. He was pompous, arrogant and uncaring. His two daughters were always berated by him. He still could remember how angry he was after Hinata's kidnapping. That man was really pissed how heiress of the almighty Hyuuga could be so weak. Next in line for Naruto stood Sarutobi's rival for Sandaime seat – Danzou, except he didn't want to adopt him. He only wants to brainwash him to be his slave. He was really pain in the ass. He was always for the war and urged extremely aggressive stance against others, who could pose a threat. In almost every decision he was against Sarutobi. And to add to this his old teammates Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura were almost every time on the side of Danzou. He almost wished that…._

"_Hokage-sama Naruto-san has awakened." Anbu which shunshined to Sarutobi's office said._

"_Thank you Bear-san." He tiredly responded._

_With a troubled expression on his face, Sarutobi stood up and took his way to hospital - to the room of his surrogate grandson. As he neared he grew more and more troubled. Naruto has tried to ask about his family many times and the Professor's answer was always that he didn't know. Now he will have to talk. As he opened the door to Naruto's room he was greeted with a sight he should but didn't expect. Naruto was there lying on the bed and in the air iron sand was levitating and taking different shapes. As he lightly coughed to gain his attention, Naruto let the iron sand drop into a small pile and greeted him_

"_Hello Old man." _

"_Hello Naruto-kun. So how are you feeling?" responded Sarutobi. _

"_I am alright, thank you."_

"_I hope you are eating well so they can let you out soon."_

"_Yeah, you would think that they won't try to poison it, when they tried so many times and failed. By the way doctor said that I can go as soon as I want."_

"_Really? Is that what he said? That's good to hear." He said as he inwardly winced at the casually mentioned murder attempt, but he quickly continued." That is really good. Can you come with me to the Hokage tower? I want to talk to you in private."_

"_Sure … lead the way." Naruto responded, logically deducing that Hokage will probably tell him something about his parents, thus about his bloodline limit. The ability itself was very interesting and it held many possibilities, he'll have to find more later. Still he thought of finding out about his parents made him uneasy and possibly angry. Did they leave him__?__ Were they dead__? __But still the main and__admittedly__ most __irritating question was 'Why didn't he told me earlier__?__ I thought he didn't know about them. This was the source of most of his anger and irritation. He was already used to the irrational actions of villagers but the Hokage was the only person he thought he can trust….. Did he betray me__? __The thought made him almost loose his cool so he pushed this kind of thoughts in the corner of him mind and decided to wait for what Hokage wanted to say. When they finally arrived they sat down. Sarutobi went through few quick handseals and whispered:_

"_Onkyou shouheki no jutsu" __(1)_

_Naruto now could only barely contain his curiosity and decided to start the conversation with neutral question._

"_So… what is this thing that I can control? Is it some sort of bloodline?"_

"_Indeed… It is called Satetsu. It is bloodline that you inherited from your mother's side. It is Uzumaki bloodline and it comes from Kaze no Kuni. "_

"_So …... You mind telling me at least a one good reason why you didn't tell me this earlier or can I explode in a fit of rage__?__ Because trust me - it's what I want to do the most at the moment. Do you know how it is to go to bed with thoughts that I will never know who my parents were__?__"_

"_I am sorry Naruto, but I never told you about them because I wanted to keep you safe. Your family had had a lot of enemies. These people would have no remorse in coming here and killing you if they knew who your parents were. I am really sorry." _

_Sarutobi was no fool, he knew it will take years for Naruto to trust him again even IF he decides to forgive him, but the deed is done. There's nothing he can do at the moment._

_Sarutobi looked at Naruto only to find him silent- mask of indifference. He didn't know what to think. Will he remain silent for a long time while he will think about it? He hoped not. In this kind of tines he could see almost nothing of the past Naruto. The Naruto which was obnoxious, loud and cheerful. But it must have been really hard for him so he should let him have some time to gather his thoughts. And so he waited… waited and still waited. He was waiting for 30 minutes which soon became 60 minutes, then an hour and half and during the whole time Naruto didn't move an inch. He just stayed sitting like a statue, oblivious to the other things around him. It was almost scary Sarutobi thought. He was getting uneasy and slightly twitchy as the time went. For a 5 years old child to make a Hokage worried, I must be getting quite soft don't I__?__ Is Naruto going to explode on me__?__ The thought made him even more worried and worst was that Naruto was still keeping his cold facade while he was looking at the floor, so he couldn't read what he was thinking. Is he angry__? __Will he hate me__? __Or will he understand me__? __Oh my god I'm ranting am I not__?__ That's bad__! __Really bad__!__ What should I do__?__ What the hell can I do__?__' While he was getting almost hysterical, Naruto finally decided to speak. Action which startled Sarutobi so he almost fell of his couch. "So… what can you tell me about my parents__? __What are they like__? __Are they like others and hate me?" Sarutobi, glad that he finally talked, immediately replied._

"_No Naruto they didn't hate you. They loved you, but they are both dead. I can't tell you about your father because I promised him that I won't tell you until you are chuunin or 16 years old. But I can tell you about your mother - Uzumaki Kushina. She was a beautiful woman. She was a bit tomboyish and she was very good at ninjutsu. Here take it, it is her photo." _

_Woman on the photo, which Naruto received, was indeed beautiful. She had fiery red hair which went past her waist, loving green eyes. In one word she could be described as a goddess. She was dressed in a dark colored sleeveless shirt with uzumaki swirl over her left breast. She had dark green pants and kunai holster on her left and right thigh. Lastly she wore black ninja sandals. When Sandaime saw that Naruto was paying attention to him again he continued. "It is unfortunate to say, but all of your relatives are dead. Uzumaki clan has origins in Kaze no Kuni. They lived there long ago before the great shinobi villages were formed, but two branches of their clan were in argument over the aggressive stance of local ninjas and one half of the clan stayed in Kaze no Kuni to help form Sunagakure no Sato while second, the more peaceful half, went to the Whirlpool Country. Your mother comes from later branch. She was the last of this branch. Problem is that this country was later destroyed during the Third Shinobi War and she fled here to Konoha. Thankfully she already knew your father, so she didn´t have much of a problem moving, but all of her relatives were lost. Meanwhile the second half of your clan stayed in Suna. Sadly almost entire branch was too killed in Second or Third Shinobi War. Sandaime Kazekage was one of the last Uzumakis and was hailed as the strongest of all Kazekages with his mastery over Satetsu. So as you can see, Satetsu is very strong bloodline limit if you know how to control it. It is ironic to call it Bloodline LIMT as it has almost no limit. However your mother never wrote any scrolls for it, so you are sadly on your own there." With this Sandaime canceled the technique and let Naruto go to sort out his thoughts. _

Flashback end

* * *

From that day on he trained with his bloodline every time he could. It provided him an ultimate defense after all and it didn't even require any concentration on his part. After few unsuccessful attacks nobody dared to attack him, because they could not harm him, and they still received the punished for breaking the law. But now it was reduced to only a very long session with Ibiki, the interrogation specialist. Ibiki was of course delighted as of lately and he wasn't even trying to hide it. Personally Naruto didn't have anything against the sadistic man, but watching one of his short 'sessions' made him reconsider the scarred man's sanity. Just remembering the event made him shudder…. The next thing Naruto did, and quite enjoyed it too, was creating new jutsus with his bloodline. Sandaime was telling the truth about it having no limit. But he shouldn't think about it right now, because currently he was preparing to leave so he could go and play with his only true friend – a girl called Ami. They met each other about year ago. A very interesting meeting indeed……

* * *

Flashback

_Naruto was having a good day. First he mastered his new defensive jutsu, Satetsu no Yoroi__(2)__, so now he was finally permanently protected from those damn drunks and assassins and second the old Hokage Sandaime took him for a free lunch so he finally had some company. Now he was going home for some well deserved rest. He took his way thought the park like always. But something was different today, because today he could hear someone cry. 'What should I do__?__' He thought. His logical side was telling him it doesn't concern him, to ignore it, but he wasn't heartless person __(yet anyway..)__ and the second part was urging him to help. Unfortunately for him, fortunately for the poor crying person, the later was winning. Sighing and wondering what happened to his peaceful day, and why was he still so soft-hearted for the matter, he went after the accursed sound. What he found was a girl and a group of bullies. He estimated she was about five or six years old and the three boys surrounding her were about seven or maybe eight. They were shouting at her and threw away a small toy, probably hers, just as he arrived. Sighing again Naruto willed his sand, which was formed like a coat (another of his jutsus - why should he carry a giant gourd to hold his sand after all) to rush at the boys and trap them. When he was sure that they could not move an inch in their sandy prisons, he urged it to bring him the toy. For assurance he let the sand squeeze the bullies a bit so they would remember to not cause problem and released them. When he saw them running like scared pigs, he went to the girl. Meanwhile the said girl was awestruck, looking at him incredulously. This boy had somehow saved her, probably, you can't be sure right? Was it him who was controlling the sand like thing__?__ With a shake of her head, she snapped out of it and watched as said the boy came to her and started to talk. _

"_Hello. I am Naruto. Are you alright?"_

"_Yes. I am ok. Thank you. My name is Ami" she responded. Naruto noted that she was a bit smaller than him. She had black hair and brown eyes. For clothing she wore some old cloths which were in few places ragged._

"_So Naruto-kun do you want to go and play with me__?__" Ami continued. _

_Naruto was a bit taken aback by how she so suddenly changed moods from scared to cheerful, she was attacked a minute ago for Christ's sake. How can she trust me when I only met her now? But if she means it then maybe he'll have some other friend than the aging Hokage. Well … why not__? He'll give it a try…._

"_Sure__!__"_

Flashback end

* * *

So as of that day, they became friends. In short time they became best friends and soon he knew everything about her and she knew everything about him. He discovered that she was orphan just like him and that her parents died on the mission to Kumo. Like him she lived alone. **"Naruto you are spacing out again."** Oh yeah. Speaking of friends he met Kyuubi 6 months ago.

* * *

Flashback

Naruto was training especially hard today. Yesterday he skipped most of his practice so he could play with Ami. What he overlooked was that he was completely exhausted. So of course this led to him losing consciousness. When he woke up he was in some sort of sewer. Thing he deduced from the water on the floor and pipes on the roof. However the strange thing was that he could hear someone snoring. Of course it was strange. 'Who would actually SLEEP in a sewer?' So of course, as he was quite a curious young man, he followed the noise. What he found was a gigantic room with a gate. Gate was help closed by a piece of paper. Curiosity getting the better of him he went closer. On the paper was simple kanji for 'SEAL'. On the roof there were many pipes. He saw that majority of the pipes were red colored. But what took his attention were the other pipes. They were blue and silvery metallic. The most interesting thing was that the blue ones looked like they were slowly but surely changing color, turning to the silvery ones. He was so fascinated with his findings that he didn't notice that his walk had awakened the powerful being residing behind the gate.

"**Who dares to disturb my sleep?"** Asked the soft voice behind the gate and slowly he could see a figure of a very attractive girl coming out of the shadows of the cage. He could say she was about 15 years old. Her eyes were scarlet red with black vertical slits. Her hair was fiery red, more so than his mothers. She wasn't very high and she wore a kimono in colors of night. Kimono was done so it was very and I repeat very form fitting.

And form she had…. She had proportions which could put the other women to shame.

When Naruto saw her, he could only think of one thing – beautiful. Thought which he unconsciously voiced. Much to his embarrassment, I might add…

The only response to his words was a small laugh from the said woman. "**Why, thank you human.**"

"I know this is sudden, but may I ask who are you, where are we, why are you behind the gate and how do you know my name?" Naruto asked.

"**I am the great queen of Hell, the Kyuubi no Kitsune and this sewer represents your mind where I was sealed by that blasted Yondaime of yours**. **I know your name because you are my container and as such I can review your memories."** The now identified Kyuubi replied.

"So it's as I thought, you are the Kyuubi. It's not like I am surprised. I've already figured it few months ago. It was surprisingly easy as I am called 'demon' on regular basis and there is still this coincidence in my birth day corresponding with your defeat. It was bound to happen that I meet you someday. But still… I didn't know that you are a female. It seems it is one of the things you don't want others to know huh? I'm not as stupid as the villagers so I won't blame you for my misfortunes, but still an explanation of your attack would be nice…"

"**You are an awfully calm about this, you know. Are you sure you are okay****?**** Your kind is very foolish and the way they are treating their own is very bad. It is almost comical that they call us demons. If some demon treated our young ones, like you are treated by your people, he would be dead in mere seconds. "**

"It is exactly as you said and it is because of this that I am calm. If living in this place taught me something, it was to remain calm and collected or I won't survive for long."

"**Wise words from someone so young, but back to the original topic. I won't try to make you trust me, as even through I'm disgusted by the people of this village, I am saving you for my own reason, I am still a demon. The reason is simple – I don't want to die and I'm pretty sure you don't want to either so we'll help each other. Even through all my power I can't break this seal so I'll lend you my power whenever you want and in return you'll kill a certain man. Do you agree****?****"**

"Depends on who's the said person, I don't enjoy killing like you do." He replied swiftly.

"Oh…? You agreed so easily? You really are an interesting human. I've got the feeling I'm gonna like you." She said with a quite beautiful smile, "but please do relax. I'm sure you won't mind killing a person which made me attack this place and thus caused me to lose my freedom. "

Now that made Naruto interested. He could solve the mystery of Kyuubi's attack and eliminate the person who caused his suffering. Quite interesting indeed.

"Very well Kyuubi, I accept. Lend me your help and together we will eliminate him. Though we'll have to wait until I'll have enough power. As I'm sure no ordinary ninja could fool you. But now you should tell me what happened in more details."

"**I was fooled to attack this village by that damned red eyed monkey called Madara." Said the Kyuubi.**

"Do you know any more details about him?"

"**Madara is the first Uchiha. And to think that I gave him his freedom by changing his doujutsu from Byakugan to Sharingan… He even crawled to my den like a worm and begged me on his knees****!****"**

"What!? My whole life consisted of pain and suffering, because of some fucking Uchiha?! I'll kill him! I'll gut him alive and feed his damn entrails to fishes!" By now Naruto was really pissed. No he wasn't pissed, pissed was too light of word to describe this state, he was beyond that. He was getting blinded by his own rage. "Uchihas! That bunch of mother fucking maggots. I hate them. People often tortured me but I could endure it, but Uchihas were different. They were always the first to try to kill me, always the first to try a new torturing technique on me. These fuckers were practically leading the assaults on me. All of them were a pathetic bunch of losers with issues, who wanted to vent their anger on me. All of them except one person - Uchiha Itachi. I guess I owe him for keeping me alive. And now I see how despicable that cursed clan is. If I ever see a member of that damned clan, I'll destroy him!"

"**I will help you with this. Madara tried to control the most powerful being on earth and for this he shall pay. But now I need you to loosen the seal so I can communicate with you freely. Just tore down corner of the seal, anything else and you will die from overflow of my yoki. "**

"Okay, I will do it, but firstly I'll ask you - can I trust you? Won't you betray me?"

"**As long as you grant me my wish to kill Madara, I'll cooperate****. ****That much you can be sure of.****Now you should return to the outside world. While I adjusted your bloodline to automatically protect you, it still isn't perfect defense so grow strong and make it perfect. Before you go do you have any more questions****?**

"Can I take it that my clans bloodline normally lacks the guarding features?" Naruto curiously asked the human looking demon.

"**Yes. As you reflect my power to the outside, I shall make you the strongest you can be. I'll start to gradually alter your DNA, so you can receive the power of my senses and the cursed Yondaime's seal is giving you my chakra by itself."**

"I see. One last question. If this sewer represents my mind, what are those pipes?"

"**These pipes represent the three types of charka you currently contain. Red pipes are for my yoki. Blue pipes are for your normal chakra and these silver pipes represent your bloodline. From the way I see it, soon the blue pipes will completely change to the silver ones and you'll be able to use Kinzokuton (3) abilities. That is if you have someone to learn them from.**

Flashback end

* * *

And so from that day onwards she would communicate with him and as they both have surprisingly compatible personalities, she quickly became his second friend. Of course he had to keep this a secret. If somebody knew that he can talk with his tenant, he would be in a deep trouble. Even Sandaime didn't know about his relationship with the demonic queen. Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted when he heard a pair of hushed voices.

"Ha! That demon whore is finally dead. The demon will suffer and we can frame him for her death. Danzo-sama is really genius to make up such a brilliant plan." The first voice stated.

Agreeing, the second voice responded "Yes and Danzo-sama will finally have an excuse to execute the demon! Muhahaha!!"

Naruto stopped listening halfway into the speech and ran as fast as he could to Ami's apartment. She just like him received it on her fifth birthday. When he arrived he was horrified. The entire complex was in flames. There was no way that someone could survive this kind of heat. He desperately tried to find her anywhere around the burning building, he even tried to enter the said building, but even with his amazing healing powers he was not able to go too far as he would be burnt to death. Everything he tried was met with failure and finally when the roof caved in the cold and unforgiving truth came to him – Ami is dead and Konoha is responsible for it. At this moment his heart has finally shattered and he became exactly what all locals claimed he is. Demon. He swore that someday he will let Konoha burn to the ground for all they did to him and Ami. He would never forgive them - not until the last shinobi and civilian is dead. He would become strong for his first true friend and make sure this will never happen again. With this in his mind he ran back to his so called home and took all he would need to survive and packed it into a rucksack. He let the keys to his room on the bed, wrote letter to Sandaime and run away from Konoha to never return here again. For if ever returned he would kill everything moving in here until no one remained or he was killed by them.

So he ran away…

From place which was never his home.

From place which hated him and he hated it back.

From place where he was beaten until his bloodline awakened.

From place which he would gladly see burn.

_**

* * *

**_

Jutsu notes:

(1) Onkyou shouheki no jutsu – sound barrier

(2) Satetsu no Yoroi – shield of iron sand

(3) -kinzokuton – metal release


	3. Survival

Heart of Steel  
Chapter 3  
- Survival –  
by Chefu and JCDx

* * *

Konoha council

In the highest floor of Hokage tower there was a special room. This particular room was bigger than any other room of the tower. And it was exactly this room that now held 17 people sitting on expensive chairs behind richly decorated tables. They were seated in U formation with the elderly Hokage sitting on a far end of the room.

This was a council room and the now present council was once again in chaos. People were shouting at each other for almost 30 minutes and there was no indication of it stopping in a near future.

Object of this all?

Escape of one Uzumaki Naruto AKA "The demon brat" of Konoha. If it was any other orphan than nobody would have said a word… But he was special. He was a carrier of the most powerful Biju in the whole known world, a sole heir to the famous Satetsu bloodline and the most important of all, he was a perfect target to release their fears an hatred on. Almost all of civilian members in the council were calling for his death. They wanted to send every available ninja to kill him so the demon would never roam this world again and they could sleep without fear for their and their children's lives. The opposite vote was to send hunter nins and let them drag Naruto back. Of course if he would let's say lose all his limbs in the process, it would of course not be any problem. He could not escape with a powerful bloodline like Satetsu. Bloodline of such power was equal to bloodlines of the strongest clans in Konoha like the Sharingan of Uchiha clan or Mokuton of Senju clan. They needed to get it back. If they could breed it, they would strengthen their position as the strongest shinobi village in Elemental countries. The thought of having a small army of Sandaime Kazekage alikes was very appealing daresay intoxicating. The members of shinobi part of the council were trying to carry out this way and they would do anything to have this small army only for themselves. Danzo of what used to be the Root division was thinking about getting the demon to his Root unit, brainwash him, train him to be a perfect killer and finally use him to get elected as Hokage. The title he should rightfully have instead of the peace-loving senile monkey Sarutobi. He will train the brat to assassinate the fool, dominate the elemental countries and finally everyone will bow to his power. Slowly a small twisted smile formed on his lips. The situation couldn't be better…

Meanwhile Sarutobi Sasuke was in a deep sorrow. He was not able to defend Naruto from the danger and he broke his promise to the late Yondaime, Naruto's father. But as long as he is drawing breath and his heart is beating he will still try to protect him from a danger known as Konoha. In this moment he renewed hi promise to himself that he will not let these fools harm or possibly kill Naruto. When he heard some old merchant from the civilian part calling at him to make the demon a S-Rank missing nin and let the ANBU kill him, he snapped. He was starting to get really pissed and the others recognized it immediately when they felt his killer intent wash over the entire Council room. After all Council members quieted down, he started to talk with his killing intent still filling the air. Proof of which was an evident sweat on the heads of all people not used to the feeling of such terror.

"Naruto will not be killed. For Kami's sake he never even entered a Shinobi Academy, so you can't rank him as a missing nin. You will all stop with this matter altogether. Naruto is to be left alone; I will not let this foolishness continue!"

This was met with a yell from the same merchant who wanted to see the demon suffer for a death of his wife and two daughters. He knew that if he could get Naruto back to Konoha then people would try to kill him again and maybe in some beautiful day they would even succeed in doing so.

"If we can not kill him than send someone to get him back. We can't let him escape with Satetsu. It is Konoha's bloodline and as such it must stay here. We will breed it and be invincible!" He stated with a voice filled with arrogance and greed.

This of course led to Sarutobi being even more pissed. This jackass was trying to get himself killed! He let him know his mind by skyrocketing his killing intent ten times while his chakra was starting to become visible as an aura of incredible power around him. He raised his right hand and smashed it to the table. This caused cracks to appear on the whole surface, a thing you wouldn't really have to try hard to see. This itself was quite a feat, knowing that the table was made from the hardest wood which could be found in all elemental countries.

"Are you kidding me? Satetsu was never bloodline of Konoha. Of all people in the entire village only Naruto had it and he never registered it as a Konoha bloodline. This said, you have no power to get Naruto back nor breed his bloodline for your use. He is only a mistreated civilian of Konohagakure no Sato and as it is known, civilians can freely leave Konoha if they want to. I repeat myself for the last time and I suggest you listen to me carefully. If I hear that somebody from this village is responsible for Naruto for some reason being hunted, I will let this council be disbanded and all of you be executed. You are all here only because your mission is to help Hokage in his work, nothing more! Don't forget this. Meeting adjourned!" With this said Sarutobi stood up and left the council room.

When Danzo was sure that Sarutobi wasn't nearby he started. "So... how are we going to kill 'it'?"

* * *

With Naruto

While Council was discussing about his future, Naruto was running from the said cause of his cruel life. Thanks to his very good stamina gained from extesive training, constant running for life from vicious civilians and shinobi of Konoha alike and demon queen sealed into his navel, he was not really that tired and he knew that he could run without breaks for another 3 or 4 hours. As he was running he could not stop thinking about Konoha and how it gradually took everything precious from him. First of all he was orphan. He didn't know what it means to be loved, the fact the villagers certainly didn't try to change. He didn't know what it is like to learn from his father. How does it feel to be hugged by his mother. What is it like to play with your friends. What is it like to receive gifts on Christmas. How birthdays are spent with your precious people. He didn't know. No. They only tortured him. They shunned him. They berated him. They constantly poisoned him. They hated him. They kicked, punched, stabbed him. They did want him to live his own personal hell. They let him live in destroyed apartment but of course the whole building was uninhabited except for him. How could someone live in almost demolished building in the first place? But they didn't care for 'demon'. They even killed his only childhood friend. And for this … they will pay in the future! He will make sure of it. He will torture them. He will make them suffer. He will kill them all. He will destroy Konoha and kill every of its inhabitants into the last peasant. He will return their hatred tenfold and make them pay in blood. But for it to be done he will have to be strong. Not strong, the strongest of them all. In this moment he promised himself again that he will become best ninja he can be and that one day, one beautiful day ... he will let Konoha turn red with blood of its citizens.

When darkness fell he was already far enough from Konoha. An entire day of running took its toll on him as he was very tired. He sighed and went to sleep. He would have to start his training soon and he needed to find some place to live. He would do this tomorrow.

* * *

Konoha – Week later

During whole week the people of Konoha were celebrating. People were dancing in the streets or getting drunk. Everything was decorated with items used only for the most important of things like elections of a new Hokage. You could see the celebration banners and signs of Konoha almost everywhere. In the center of Konoha, in Square of Hokages celebration was the biggest. On podium there was running a show of a fight that happened between the famous Yondaime Hokage and Kyuubi no Kitsune twelve years ago. If people were not watching the drama then they were singing and dancing with a famous hired band. Children were running and playing their games. They didn't know why they are celebrating Kyuubi's defeat for a whole week but they didn't care. Who would if you don't have to go to the boring school? People were happy that they were safe from cursed Kyuubi brat. They could sleep and not fear for their souls and souls of their children. Bars were open nonstop and everyone's beer were free in at last one inn. In short people were celebrating for their lives.

While almost everyone was celebrating, some people were in a deep sorrow. These people were Sarutobi Sasuke, Ichiraku Teuchi and his daughter Ayame. They have just lost someone they considered family. For the two old men Naruto was like their grandson and for Ayame he was brother she never had.

Sarutobi was having a break from his most hated enemy – the paperwork. He was walking through his village trying to get relaxed. But with a party for Naruto's escape still running it was really hard. He saw how someone was boasting to his friend that his wife is a hero because she died trying to kill the 'demon child'. That she was in the mob that died when 'demon brat' awakened his bloodline, which was surely stolen from some important Konoha family. There's no way that demon has that bloodline naturally, he would have to be human right? He was really disappointed with Konoha's people. They tortured an innocent child and used him as scapegoat for their own hatred for Kyuubi. They even killed an innocent girl just to let Naruto suffer. Of course he took her body and let her be buried in place, where nobody will disturb her eternal sleep. He was really angry… But his thoughts ventured back to Naruto and his life in Konoha. How is it possible that they could not see that he was a mere container and not the demon himself? They didn't respect a dying wish of their hero. Their champion. Their leader. How could they? It was moments like this when he was disgusted with his own village. Village, he was supposed to protect from everything dangerous, while the most dangerous were evidently themselves. But he could not let them hurt Naruto. One of his precious people and his foster grandson. Son of the greatest shinobi of Konoha – Yondaime Hokage Namikaze Minato and his wife Uzumaki Kushina. He knew that council would eventually try to find Naruto and kill him, but he had to at least slow them down together with the people he can trust.

With the last shake of his head and disappointed sigh Sarutobi puffed back to his office. It would do him no good if he starts to hate his own village.

* * *

Naruto - 6 months later

Right now Naruto was returning with his prey to his temporary home. He caught a deer today. He should have meat for about two days if he can protect it from decay, animals and rotting. He entered the cave where he spent last six months.

Finding the cave when he arrived here was harder than he thought because it was from a larger part covered by bushes. Cave which he used was formally a bear's nest so he had to kill original inhabitant. This of course provided him a meal for some time, a fact for which he was grateful, because he still didn't know the surrounding terrain very much. The cave was almost two meters high and it was deep and cold.

'The deeper you ventured, the colder it would be.' Naruto noted and inwardly shivered. He of course lived closer to the entrance because he didn't feel like to freezing to the death. He stored meat deeper to extend the time it stayed eatable. He stored there hides too. It was not something like a real refrigerator but it was better than nothing and a fresh meat was better than to eat meat with some unknown disease. He was of course almost immune to it thanks to Kyuubi. But even then eating outdated meat was not very pleasant matter as it caused him to have stomach ache for two hours. On the roof of the cave there were stalactites. They weren't really long but they were there and he had to use his bloodline to destroy them so he would not be hurt by their accidental falling. It was not really different from his old home. His old home was always a mess. It didn't even have electricity or water. Actually the cave was in a few aspects many times better than the old apartment in Konoha. There were no writings like 'DIE DEMON', 'YOU SHOULD BURN IN HELL' or 'I WILL KILL YOU', so he felt here safer than he could ever be in that hellhole where he previously lived. Here he was endangered only by wild animals, which he could immediately kill with his Satetsu. That would of course only happen in case that the attacking animal would not be stopped by his elaborate traps. And that was very unlikely because his skill in traps was advanced.

When he entered the cave he laid the dead deer down in the back of a cave and went back to his living area. There he started to prepare a piece of the meat he got from some unfortunate deer for his dinner after a long day of heavy training.

In the last six months he greatly improved in many aspects of his shinobi skills. First of all he improved his control of Satetsu to a more suitable level. At last for now…. His iron sand attacks were quicker and deadlier. Also three months ago he perfected his second original technique called Satetsu shuriken no jutsu. Hell he was even creating his third technique and he was progressing with it very well. He increased his skill in trap making which was already very good from the time when he still lived in the village. Increasing this skill was not really hard for him and he also knew that he will always need traps if he wants to sleep safely. He also trained in stealth.

For a successful infiltration of villages or simple buildings this skill was a must. He could not just go and waltz in any time he felt about it but with a good stealth he could enter and still would not be found.

For his accuracy he used Satetsu shuriken and older set of kunai. This particular set was from Konoha and he stole it from a shinobi who slept in some unimportant training ground. 'What a jackass to sleep in the middle of day. What if somebody killed him?' But Naruto didn't care. He could die for all he care. It would ease his work after all.

He didn't have excellent accuracy but he knew that he could hit with eight of ten thrown weapons.

In forest he learned a lot of things too. With animals in plentiful numbers he didn't starve and he learned how to skin them. He learned how to hunt, how to use plants in the forest. His new hides helped to keep him warm. Later he decided that he would sell them so he stored them in the back of the cave. Hunting was also sometimes accomplished with trap making.

Five months ago he also started to learn about herbs in a forest and how to use them in a fight. Healing was not really skill for him so he specialized on fight. So he used herbs as poisons. His knowledge wasn't vast as of some poison master but poisons interested him very much and he promised himself to learn more about them. He wasn't using them often but when used properly they would kill a full grown deer in hour. Interesting idea was to coat his Iron sand with poison. It would only take a scratch and the victim will fall like a lump of meat in few minutes/seconds, depending on the potency of said poison. This technique will greatly improve his fighting style and allow him to take on more opponents at once. But as it was a quite advanced technique he was unfortunately not able to perform it for now. It still needs more precision training with satetsu so he will not accidentally cut himself and more research in the poisons. The poisons he knew right now were just too slow for this particular usage. Also it would help him to develop immunity for his own poisons and as immunity he thought immunity greater than the one provided by the fox. It is true that the fox will purge almost any toxin from his blood, but it still requires some time when he is sick. Such weakness in the middle of the fight is unimaginable. Maybe he should have a talk with the fox to increase the speed of healing, but that's for another time…

He also started to grow his own herbs near his cave so he wouldn't have to go and look for them all the day. He had different ways to spend his precious time after all.

Rest of his time was used by strengthening his body. He would not be a good shinobi if he specialized only in ninjutsu. His daily ritual was to run laps around lake near the cave. He first started with ten laps but now after nearly 6 months he was on 80 laps and he wasn't really that tired anymore. He even used his iron sand as a weight for his body to increase his speed. It wasn't really such a dramatic increase of speed but he continuously used the weights while he was running, doing his morning workout, training or simply walking so it was somehow of a welcomed power boost while he released his iron sand for fighting. It would also do him no good if he couldn't efficiently travel with the iron sand. It is his main defense after all. After that he would use some random tree like a punching log. Then he always did five hundred punches with his left then right arm and then five hundred kicks for each of his legs. Usually after the last kick, the tree was so decimated that it was a miracle that it didn't fell on him. Once this was done he would return to the lake and continue with his chakra control. When he was still in Konoha, Sandaime gave him a scroll with three chakra control exercises. First was leaf levitating, second a tree walking exercise and last was water walking.

Leaf balancing was the easiest exercise and you could normally learn it in Academy. It used one leaf that you had to put on your forehead and use your chakra to let it levitate. Too much chakra and the leaf would shot too high and wind would blow it away. Too small and it would stay on your forehead. In Konoha he mastered this exercise after one week. It was also very good for concentration.

Tree walking was much harder than leaf balancing because he had to send chakra to his feet, a place where it is hardest to control. Then he would have to climb a tree by only using his feet and chakra. Too much and he would be blown away and too little and he would slide down.

He mastered this exercise after he came here and it really helped him with a quick transport in the forest.

Lastly he worked on water walking, as it was based on same principle as tree walking. The only difference was having to emit chakra constantly, because the water isn't a solid surface. He mastered this exercise 4 months ago and now he was using a combination of leaf balancing and water walking for the better outcome. He tried a kunai balancing exercise where you have to balance yourself on the tip of a kunai while being supported only by your finger on the end of the kunai but he wasn't able to keep the balance for long so he abandoned the exercise for now.

Yesterday he decided that he learned enough on his own and that he would have to start learning from someone. He didn't have any taijutsu style and he desperately needed one. Now his fights were only about brawling. With his amount of chakra and suitable control he was a ninjutsu type, but that wouldn't stop him from learning, to become a good taijutsu user. He sighed and went to sleep for the last time in a cave which he called home for this past six months.

When he woke up next day he packed all of his necessities and went outside. When he looked around the cave, he remembered how different it was when he first came here. In the past there was a bush of different plants before him. Now he could only see his small garden of plants which he used for poisons. His small garden contained around 10 or so plants but he was only starting with poisons so he knew that he will have to learn about them more in the future.

Where there was a dense forest of different trees on right side of cave before was now only a very small amount of trees. A lot of trees he used as training logs and sometimes when he was too cold as a fuel for fire.

But some things never changed, example being a small lake on left side of the cave. It was still there and he used it only for running and chakra control. Sometimes he caught some fish from there and had special meal. All in all the lake changed only minimally.

Earth around his cave was very used so it was easy to track his home now. This added another reason to his decision to move. Bushes before cave that were used as a small cover were too worn from him going in and out everyday to actually cover anything now.

He looked around last time and sprinted away. His destination? A small village by the name of Tokushima in Kusa no Kuni.

Kusa no Kuni was a small country bordering with four other countries, Tsuchi no Kuni, Ame no Kuni, Hi no Kuni and Taki no Kuni. In Kusa wherever you looked, you saw grass. Not normal grass but one and sometimes even two meters high jungle of abnormal grass. It was because of this that it was called Kusa no Kuni. Why go to this country? Because it was neutral country bordering to an enemy with Konoha and in this country it was very easy to hide from everyone. Village itself was on borders of Kusa no Kuni and Taki no Kuni which was even better because waterfall country wasn't very fond of Konoha either. This particular village wasn't really important so it was not very often visited by shinobi. This destination was Naruto's perfect hiding place.

4 days later by afternoon Naruto finally arrived to Tokushima. Tokushima was a busy town, rustling with life. As in every city living from trade, streets were full of people and you could see markets almost everywhere, selling whatever you could ever want. Economy was booming and everyone was happy. The fact that village didn't look too bad itself was of course very helpful too. If you compare the architecture, you can see a group of old buildings in the centre with gradually younger buildings towards the city borders. You could almost see how the city extended over the years. Streets looked clean and neat with periodic maintenance. In the middle of the town, surrounded by a marketplace with only fresh ingredients, you could see a small square with a beautiful fountain. In the north you could find a small park with a lot of playing children and in the east a busy port on the nearby river, serving for trade. In short it was a good place for those seeking trade, relaxation, meditation or in children's case place to play with their peers. Hotel in which he lodged in was a new building with 3 floors. He chose a small apartment which didn't cost too much so he could live with money which he gained from hides of animals he hunted for at least three months and he would still have some leftover money for a meal. Everyday he could go to the forest and train in whatever skill he chose to improve. Normally an hour before sunset he would go and hunt some animals for more hides and meat for furthering of his money reserves. This was going for almost two weeks when he discovered with annoyance that his clothes were torn and his set of kunai was not usable anymore. With some fittingly chosen muttered curses he went back into the village for search of a suitable shinobi shop. After three and half hours he finally found one. It was a small shop hidden in a side street. When he entered the shop he was awed by quantity and above all variety of different weapons.

* * *

The shop owner's view

Tetsuya Takeshi was a fifty two years old veteran of shinobi wars hiding as an owner of a shinobi shop. He was 5 ft 4 high and quite well built for his old age. A vertical scar was stretched from his right eyebrow to his right cheek. His hair was as gray as you can expect of all of his age group. His old brown eyes showed wisdom and insight only gained by age and many battles. He could be constantly seen with a pipe in his mouth and happily smoking high quality tobacco from Tsuchi no Kuni. He was dressed in black loose pants, old blue long sleeved shirt and standard shinobi sandals.

When he heard doors of his shop open he looked up and saw a small boy around 6 or 7 years old. This itself surprised him because not too many ninja wanted to shop in a remote shop like his, not to mention children. This was a freaking SHINOBI shop for Kami's sake. What the hell is such a shrimp doing here?

Said kid was around 4 ft high. His hair was of a sun kissed color and his eyes were in a color of the sky. His clothes were ragged and dirty. But his posture was guarded as if he was expecting attack any second. His frame was well build for his age and you could say that his punches will have some serious power. With an 'AHEM' Takeshi broke the silence and started the conversation with an expected question. "What are you doing here kid?"

* * *

Naruto's view

When Naruto entered the small shop he didn't expect anything like this. The old and on the outside worn out shop morphed into a new looking shop with best things available in the inside. Weapons looked like those of the highest quality. No. He didn't know too much about weapons but even he knew they were good, really good. On the walls were being displayed different kinds of katanas, ninjato and wakizashis. In one corner of shop he could see an area which specialized in different kinds of cloths.

Next corner was used for those who specialized in medicine. He found many different kinds of pills. They were labeled as soldier pills, food pills, blood pills and many other different kinds. Next to them were some first aid kits. He could also see some basic manuals for chakra control, an area which was not exactly his forte so he could use some exercises. Medic section was completed by many books for anatomy, psychology etc. and of course different basic jutsus for healing and diagnostic. Other items like bandages or stretchers weren't missing either.

Next to the medical corner was a selection of weights. He decided that he should buy some because it would help him greatly if he wore them constantly. It would surely improve his speed and strength of his punches and kicks.

Shop even contained a section for ninja techniques. He could see scrolls for ninjutsus which were labeled as D and C class for almost all elements, a thing which was very intriguing because all elemental countries are very secretive about their elemental jutsus. This indicated that shop owner was probably a retired ninja. One that literally traveled through most of countries. That was another reason why to be wary of the owner. Hidden villages didn't provide to their ninja such a freedom like traveling around the world and long-turn missions aren't enough to learn foreign jutsus. So that means that he's either a missing-nin, one that is powerful enough to survive long enough and learn all of those jutsus on his travels or he's a Sannin level ninja of some village. Naruto of course heard all about the Densetsu no Sannin. They are the only ninjas whose rank permitted them an absolute freedom of their village. So it isn't unreasonable to think that there are other ninjas with such privileges in other shinobi villages. It is without saying that these ninjas are very powerful because they must be capable to defend their village's secrets. At this moment Naruto couldn't even decide which of those two options is more unnerving but he didn't jump into conclusions and continued with the survey. In these situations he knew that he had to remain calm and act normal. So he calmed himself and continued with his tour through out the ninjutsu section. For each element he saw about 3 scrolls for D and one or two scrolls for rank C. Nearby were storage scrolls and scrolls for other various uses.

He then saw a section for basic sealing between ninjutsu scrolls and weighs. Sealing is a powerful art. Maybe even the most useful ninja art ever created. The only problem was that its difficulty was proportional to it's usefulness. His seal was a proof of that. Yondaime had to pay a high price for the imprisonment of Kyuubi, a price that was his life and afterlife. But even then it was an impressive art. An art that only few can fully comprehend and even fewer can master. Naruto was determined to become one of those few. After all he had one complex seal on his stomach and it would be beneficial to closely understand it. After opening one of the advanced books of sealing, his interest rose even higher. You could say that possibilities were endless. His thoughts were interrupted when somebody asked:

"What are you doing here kid?"

Quickly cursing himself for losing his perception of surroundings he searched for the voice and found an old man who was behind the cash desk looking at him with curious eyes.

"I am here to acquire some items required for my training." Naruto responded.

"Aren't you too young to have a shinobi training? You look like you just came out of preschool."

"Young enough to by assassinated, young enough to be a shinobi" This surprised Takeshi because he didn't think that this small kid could be an object of assassination, and after he looked carefully on his posture he realized it's entirely possible that there was more than one attempt!

With his answer said Naruto started to make a mental list of items he could use while counting if he had enough money. In the end he took a book named 'Seals for dummies', some light weights, one set of kunai and his new cloths. His new clothes considered of 5 shirts, 3 pairs of pants, 1 pair of shinobi sandals and some medical bandages. His pants were all loose black with many pockets for different purposes like for storing scrolls or kunai. His shirts were short sleeved except for two. First was long sleeved shirt and second didn't have any sleeves at all.

"Is that all?" Takeshi asked still feeling somehow weird for his talk to the small kid who was apparently already a target of assassination.

"Yeah. That will be all." Naruto coldly responded and paid the required sum for his new equipment.

When he finally left, all Takeshi could think was 'What a strange kid...'

* * *

Kusa no Kuni – Grass country

Taki no Kuni – Land of waterfall

Tsuchi no Kuni- Land of earth

Hi no Kuni- Fire country

Ame no Kuni- Land of rain


End file.
